Supreme Court Grants Cert on Consent to Search Issue; Also Rules on Denial of Defense Claim

Yesterday, the Supreme Court granted cert in Fernandez v. California (No. 12-7822). The issue presented is whether, under Georgia v. Randolph, a defendant must be personally present and objecting when police officers ask a co-tenant for consent to conduct a warrantless search or whether a defendant’s previously stated objection, while physically present, to a warrantless search is a continuing assertion of 4th Amendment rights which cannot be overridden by a co-tenant.

The Court also issued an opinion in Metrish v. Lancaster (No. 12-547), holding that because the Michigan Court of Appeals did not unreasonably apply clearly established federal law when it retroactively applied a decision of the Michigan Supreme Court rejecting the diminished-capacity defense to petitioner, he was not entitled to habeas relief. For more on the opinion, see this SCOTUSblog post.